Ecuador issues $1 bln in 10-year bonds to yield 10.75 pct

2 MIN. DE LECTURA

QUITO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Ecuador’s finance ministry said on Monday it had placed about $1 billion in 10-year sovereign bonds in the international market.

Proceeds from the 10.75 percent bonds will be used to strengthen the Andean country’s reserves and help fund this year’s budget which has financing needs of about $8 billion, the ministry said in a statement.

“Ecuador has always been alert to a window of opportunity to go into the markets and this issue does not mean that the permanent dialogue and communication with other potential sources of financing, such as multilateral organizations and China, is closed,” it said.

Ecuador faces liquidity problems due to a bulky fiscal deficit and hefty external debt produced during the government of former President Rafael Correa.

The government said it obtained a yield that was 25 percentage points lower than the 11 percent established in the initial guide.

Citigroup, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank are acting as placement leaders, according to IFR, a Refinitiv service, citing one of the agents in charge of the operation. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia Writing by Helen Murphy and Diane Craft)